Morrow, MHS swimmers to make debut

Matt Morrow is anxious to see how his McPherson High boys swimming team performs when it opens the season on Tuesday at Newton.

The meet begins at 4 p.m., and other teams competing are Derby, El Dorado, Campus, Hutchinson and Winfield.

Morrow, who once swam collegiately for the Kansas Jayhawks, has taken over for longtime coach Bonnie Sue Fisher, who moved to Colorado this summer. He is working with an 11-man squad, including some key returners.

“Eric Gaeddert, Spencer Steinert and Maxx Howe are looking to be a great threesome as sophomores to help fill in the loss of the senior class from last year, as well as senior Dalyn Chapman,” Morrow said.

Gaeddert and Steinert both qualified for state last year in two events, with Gaeddert placing 19th in both in the 100 freestyle and 100 breaststroke, while Steinert was 20th in the 500 freestyle. Howe stands 6-8 and can cover a lot of ground in a hurry, while Chapman should make great strides in his final year.

Morrow has been pleasantly surprised with some swimmers that he didn’t have a lot of knowledge of prior to the start of preseason practice.

“I've had a nice surprise with the freshman group, as Gavin Soukup, Jori VanGoethem and Carson Stone are also looking like they could score points for us,” Morrow said. “We've got some newer swimmers as well that I'm looking forward to coaching them through their first meet, Price Kramer, Jaxon Jumonville, Christian Ramirez and Abe Walker — all who have improved a lot in the first two weeks of practice. It’s really a great group of young men that are putting a lot of effort in personal improvement and team success.”